Champ enters eight in bid to win Charity Mile again
RELEASED BY: Phumelela Gaming and Leisure Limited
RULING champion trainer Charles Laird has entered eight horses in a bid to win the Peermont Emperors Palace Charity Mile for the third consecutive year.
The race, won in by Laird-trained “milers” Our Giant in 2007 and Likeithot in 2008, will be run over 1600m at Turffontein on Saturday 7 November. The race is worth R600,000 to the connections of the horses who finish in the money. They will not be the only beneficiaries, though.
The Charity Mile, formerly the November Handicap, is one of the most special races on the South African calendar because it also provides the horseracing industry and its many fans to make a huge contribution to charity. Each of the 16 participants in the race will run on behalf of a charity with the finishing positions determining how much each charity wins. Each horse will also have a corporate sponsor and be publically represented by a celebrity.
If the entries are any indication, a high-class and competitive field is likely to line up in the Charity Mile. Nineteen of the 44 first entries are rated 100 and more and are in the top echelons of the country’s equine athletes.
Laird’s eight entries include Oracy, a highly regarded son of Zabeel and unbeaten in four career starts before being sidelined by injury. His victories last season included a game neck defeat of Captain’s Table in the Dingaans and another narrow success over dead-heaters Cherise Cherry and Tyrone Zackey’s sole Charity Mile entry Royal Rez. Racing fans will see at Turffontein on Tuesday whether the injury has had any impact on Oracy’s ability.
Likeithot could well be out to defend his crown while Senor Versace, a good third to Rudra in last year’s Summer Cup and perhaps in need of further than 1600m nowadays, and Eight Street, a talented five-time winner, are other highly rated nominees from the yard.
Trainer Mike de Kock has three top horses entered, including last season’s SA Classic winner Forest Path and Meet At Malamala, a horse he was hoping would set the world alight as a three-year-old last season but who also went wrong. Meet At Malamala won at Clairwood last month and is scheduled to meet Oracy for the first time at Turffontein on Tuesday.
The highest-rated horse, Buy And Sell, could well have a couple of his stable companions beside him in the starting stalls on 7 November because Sean Tarry has entered five horses, including smart Aslan. And Dominic Zaki has entered his top-rated three-year-old Exhilaration, while Duncan Howells has shown his intention of bringing Tropical Empire to the Highveld from Durban.
Supplementary entries close on Friday 23 October after which the weights will be announced. Final acceptances fall due on Wednesday 28 October when the final field will be announced and the charities and celebrities associated with each runner will also be publicised.
The entries for the R600,000 Peermont Emperors Palace Charity Mile (Grade 2) over 1600m:
BUY AND SELL (113),
ASLAN (98),
CAPTAIN'S GAL (96),
RAY SAUCE (88) and VERTICAL TAKEOFF (88, S G Tarry);
BHEKINKOSI (98),
FENERBAHCE (98),
SENOR JET (98) and SIRIUS STAR (93, G M Alexander);
FOREST PATH (107), BRAGGADACIO (103) and MEET AT MALAMALA (103, M F De Kock);
THEREALSLIMSHADY (106),
SPORTING BOY (101),
CAPTAIN SCOTT (100),
CARBON LEADER (97) and IRON WOOD (97, A G Laird);
ORACY (106),
LIKEITHOT (105),
SENOR VERSACE (105),
EIGHT STREET (101),
IMPERIAL GESTURE (97),
RUDI ROCKS (97),
SPACE CAPTAIN (96) and DEEP WATER (92, C Laird);
DISA LEADER (99),
NORQUINCO (98),
SEATTLE ICE (98) and JET TYCOON (91, G V Woodruff);
EL PADRINO (100) and THE BIG ASK (94, M G Azzie);
CATMANDU (101, B D Botes);
EXHILARATION (105, D Zaki);
GLIDING HIGH (101, B O Wiid);
HORATIO (100, P F Matchett);
IRON CURTAIN (91, R R Sage);
KILLARIDGE (95, W H Marwing);
MAGICAL (100, O A Ferraris);
PATTAYA BEACH (87, B Webber);
ROYAL REZ (96, T Zackey);
THANDOLWAMI (102, C Eudey);
TROPICAL EMPIRE (106, D C Howells);
ULTRA VIRES (90, K Naidoo);
ZORBA'S TALE (88, M N Houdalakis).
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